Reggio is located on the "toe" of the Italian Peninsula and is separated from the island of Sicily by the Strait of Messina. It is situated on the slopes of the Aspromonte, a long, craggy mountain range that runs up through the center of the region. The third economic center of mainland Southern Italy, the city proper has a population of more than 185,000 inhabitants spread over 236 square kilometres (91 sq mi), while the fast-growing urban area numbers 260,000 inhabitants. About 560,000 people live in the metropolitan area, recognised in 2009 by Italian Republic as a metropolitan city.[3]

As a major functional pole in the region, it has strong historical, cultural and economic ties with the city of Messina, which lies across the strait in Sicily, forming a metro city of less than 1 million people.[4]

Reggio is the oldest city in the region, and despite its ancient foundation – Ρηγιον was an important and flourishing colony of Magna Graecia – it boasts a modern urban system, set up after the catastrophic earthquake on December 28, 1908, which destroyed most of the city. The region is subject to earthquakes and tsunami. It is a major economic center for regional services and transport on the southern shores of the Mediterranean.

The city center, consisting primarily of Liberty buildings, has a linear development along the coast with parallel streets, and the promenade is dotted with rare magnolias and exotic palms. Reggio has commonly used popular nicknames: The "city of Bronzes", for the Riace bronzes which are testimonials of its Greek origins; the "city of bergamot", which is exclusively cultivated in the region; and the "city of Fatamorgana", an optical phenomenon visible in Italy only from the Reggio seaside.

The origins of the ancient city of Reggio merge into the mists of mythology and the meanderings of archaeology. From the late 3rd millennium BC onwards until the 8th century BC it was inhabited by peoples such as the Osci (sometimes referred to as Opici), Phoenicians, Trojans, Mycenaeans and Achæans, then by Oenotrians, Ligures, Ausones, Mamertines, Taureanes, Sicels, Morgeti and Itali.[7] We know that the sculptor Léarchos was at Reggio at the end of the 15th century BC, and that Iokastos was King of Reggio at the beginning of the 13th century BC.[7]

After Cumae, Reggio is one of the oldest Greek colonies in southern Italy. The colony was settled by the inhabitants of Chalcis in 730 or 743 BC[7] on the site of the older settlement, Erythrà (Ερυθρά), meaning "the Red one". This dated back to the 3rd millennium BC and was perhaps established by the Ausones. The last Ausonian ruler was king Italós, from whom the name of Italy is derived:[8] the land round Reggio was at first known as Saturnia or Neptunia and then Italia, which in Roman times became the name of the whole peninsula, but in those days corresponded only to present-day southern Calabria, which was also known later as Bruttium.[7] King Iokastos is buried on the Punta Calamizzi promontory, called "Pallantiòn", where Greek settlers later arrived. The colony retained the earlier name of "Rhégion" (Ρήγιoν).

Under Greek rule, Reggio became a Polis of Magna Græcia: it was governed by the Messenians, from 737 to 461 BC; by Syracuse from 387 to 351 BC, when it was known as Phœbèa and then by the Campanians although for a time in the 5th–3rd centuries BC, it was also a republic. Reggio was one of the most important cities in Greater Greece, reaching great economic and political power during the 5th and 6th centuries BC under the Anaxilas government. Anaxilas allowed Reggio to rule over all the Messina Strait, including Zancle (modern Messina). Rhegion later allied with Athens during the Peloponnesian War until 387 BC when the city was taken by the Syracusans. Later, the polis of Rhegion reached great artistic and cultural heights, as is shown by the presence of art, philosophy and science academies, such as the Pythagorean School and also for its well-known poet, Íbykos, the historian, Ippys and the sculptor Pythagóras. Many items of archaeological interest from this Hellenic era have been retrieved and are displayed in various places locally. Under the Greek rule, the former Italic culture was amalgamated into the Hellenic before disappearing altogether.

As an independent city Rhegium was an important ally and "socia navalis" of Rome. During the Imperial age it became one of the most important and flourishing cities of southern Italy when it was the seat of the "Corrector", the Governor of "Regio II Lucania et Bruttii" (province of Lucany and Brutium). During the Roman Empire it was called "Rhegium Julium" and was a noble Roman city. It was a central pivot for both maritime and mainland traffic, reached by the final part of the Via Popilia (also known as Via Annia),which was constructed in the 2nd BC and joined the older, Via Appia at Capua, south of Rome. Close to Reggio, on the Straits of Messina, was the busy port of Columna Rhegina. Rhegium boasted in imperial times, nine thermal baths,[9] one of which is still visible today. During the whole Latin age Reggio maintained not only its Greek customs and language but also its Mint.

In 61 AD the apostle Saoúl (St. Paul) passed through Rhegium on his final voyage towards Rome,[10] converting the first local Christians and, according to tradition, laying the foundations of the Christianization of Bruttium.

Because of its seismic activity, the Reggio area was often damaged by earthquakes, such as in 91 BC, when it was destroyed but then was rebuilt by order of the Emperor Augustus. Other memorable shocks took place in the years 17, 305 and 374 AD.

Invasions by the Vandals, the Longobards and the Goths occurred in the 5th- 6th centuries, and then, under Byzantine rule, Reggio became, a Metropoli of the Byzantine possessions in Italy and several times between 536 and 1060 AD was also the capital of the Duchy of Calabria. Following wars between the Longobards and Byzantines in the 6th century, present-day Calabria, then known as “Bruttium”, was renamed “Calabria”. As Reggio was a Byzantine centre of culture, certain monks undertook the work of scribes and carried out the transcription of ancient classical works. Until the 16th century Reggio was one of the most important Greek-rite Bishoprics in Italy and even today Greek words are used and are recognisable in local speech and Byzantine terms can be found in local liturgy, in religious icons and even in local recipes.

Numerous occupying armies came to Reggio during the early Middle Ages due to the city's strategic importance. For hundreds of years Reggio was taken by various factions. The Saracens established a self-proclaimed sultanate on the Southern Italian coast under Mofareg-ibn-Salem which, at its peak reached, from Bari to Reggio and lasted from approximately 853–871.[11] Following their expulsion from Italy, the Saracens occupied Reggio in 918 and sold most of it inhabitants into slavery.[12] For brief periods in the 10th–11th centuries the city was ruled by the Arabs and, renamed Rivàh (or sometimes Rŷu), became part of the Emirate of Sicily. During the period of Arab rule various beneficial ideas were introduced into Calabria, such as Citrus fruit trees, Mulberry trees (used in silk production) and several ways of cooking local vegetables such as aubergines. The Arabs introduced water ices and ice cream and also greatly improved agricultural and hydraulic techniques for irrigation.

The city passed under the crowns of the Normans from 1060 to 1194 when it was called Risa and of the Swabians from 1194 to 1266. In 1060 the Normans, under Robert Guiscard and Roger I of Sicily, captured Reggio but Greek cultural and religious elements persisted until the 17th century. In 1234 the town fair was established by decree of the Emperor, Frederick II.[13]

Reggio, because of its geographical position was often contested between the Kingdom of Naples (on continental Italy) and the Kingdom of Sicily, in fact between 1266 and 1503 Reggio passed between the rule of the Aragonese, who called it Regols and who, in 1459, enlarged its medieval castle and also of the Angevins, when life in Calabria deteriorated because of the Angevin tendency to accumulate wealth in their capital, Naples, leaving Calabria in the power of local Barons.

In the 12th century Reggio became part of the Kingdom of Sicily. In 1282, during the Sicilian Vespers, Reggio rallied in support of Messina and the other oriental Sicily cities because of the shared history, commercial and cultural interests. For 413 years Reggio was the capital of the Calabrian Giustizierato, from 1147 to 1443 and from 1465 to 1582. It supported the Aragonese forces against the House of Anjou. The city was ranked to Kingdom of Naples. In the 14th century it obtained new administrative powers.

Reggio, throughout the Middle Ages, when sometimes it was written as Regio, was first an important centre of calligraphy and then of printing after this was invented, boasting the first dated printed edition of a Hebrew, a Rashi commentary on the Pentateuch, printed in 1475 in La Giudecca of Reggio[14] although scholars consider Rome as the city where Hebrew printing began.[citation needed] The Jewish Community was also considered to be among the foremost internationally, for the dyeing and the trading of silk.

Later came the Habsburgs of Spain although Reggio was ruled by a viceroy from 1504 to 1713; the Kingdoms of Naples and Sicily were in fact part of the Spanish crown territories. The 16th and 17th centuries were an age of decay due to high Spanish taxes, pestilence, the 1562 earthquake, and the Ottoman Turkish invasions suffered by Reggio between 1543 and 1594. After Barbary pirates attacked Reggio in 1558, they took most of its inhabitants as slaves to Tripoli.[15]

In 1714 southern Italy became once more property of the Austrian Hasburgs until 1734, when the Bourbons of Spain took possession. Then, in 1759, Reggio became part of the newly independent Kingdom of Naples. In 1783 a disastrous earthquake damaged Reggio, all southern Calabria and Messina.

In 1806 Napoleon Bonaparte took Reggio and made the city a Duchy and General Headquarters. Reggio was the capital of Calabria Ulteriore Prima with the Bourbons of Naples from 1759 to 1860. Under the Bourbons, in 1816, the two ancient Kingdoms of Naples and of Sicily were unified becoming the Kingdom of Two Sicilies. During the 19th century the area became an economic and military European power boasting of various conquests in the fields of science, technology, the arts and law.

On August 21, 1860, during the famous "Battaglia di Piazza Duomo" (Cathedral Square Battle), Giuseppe Garibaldi conquered the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. Bruno Antonio Rossi (the mayor of Reggio after the historian Domenico Spanò Bolani, who helped the citizenship during the previous turbulent years) was the first in the kingdom to proclaim the new Garibaldi Dictatorship and the end of the rule of Francis II. The city, renamed Reggio di Calabria, came under the House of Savoy, which was heavily indebted and who impoverished southern Italy to pay their debts by looting the state coffers and by crushing flourishing local activities such as forestry, mining, boat-building (the Calabrian steel factory was then in fact the largest in Italy), silkworm breeding, silk-weaving and agriculture; they also issued laws to eliminate standing scholarships.

On December 28, 1908, at exactly 5:21 AM, the town was hit by a heavy earthquake and shook violently for 31 seconds. Damage was even worse in Messina across the Straits. It is estimated that 25,000 people perished in Reggio and 65,000 in Messina. Reggio lost 27% of its inhabitants and Messina lost 42%. Ten minutes after the catastrophic earthquake those who tried to escape running towards the open spaces of the coast were engulfed by a 10 metre high tsunami. Three waves of 6–12 metres swept away the whole waterfront. The 1908 Messina earthquake remains one of the worst on record in modern western European history.[16][17] It took Reggio a generation to fully recover.[citation needed] The city was rebuilt according to then modern standards.

Under Fascism with the Podestà Genoese-Zerbi, in 1927 the city became an administrative centre for the surrounding municipalities and was called Grande Reggio (‘Greater Reggio’). During the Second World War, as a result of its strategic military position, it suffered a devastating air raid and was used as the invasion target by the British Eighth Army in 1943 which led to the city's capture. After the War Reggio recovered considerably.

During 1970–1971 the city was the scene of a popular uprising – known as the Moti di Reggio – against the government choice of Catanzaro (a ‘less important' town than Reggio) as capital of the newly instituted Region of Calabria.[18] The revolt was taken over by young neofascists of the Italian Social Movement (Movimento Sociale Italiano – MSI) backed by the 'Ndrangheta, a Mafia-type criminal organisation based in Calabria.[19][20] The Reggio Calabria protests were the expression of malcontent about cronyism and the lack of industrial planning. Between the 1970s and the 1980s Reggio went through twenty years of an increase in organized crime by the 'Ndrangheta as well as urban decay. The town is home to several 'ndrine, such as the Condello-Imerti and the De Stefano-Tegano clans, which were involved in bloody wars against each other during this period.[21] The 'Ndrangheta extorts protection money ("pizzo") from every shop and viable business in town and has more power than the city council in awarding licences to retailers.[20]

The spiral of corruption reached its zenith in the early 1990s. The sitting mayor at the time, Agatino Licandro, made a remarkable confession reporting "suitcases coming into city hall stuffed with money but going out empty". As a result of the nationwide corruption scandals most of the city council was arrested.[20] But, since the early 1990s, the so-called "Primavera di Reggio" (Reggio Spring) – a spontaneous movement of people and government institutions – encouraged city recovery and a renewed and stronger identity. The symbol of the Reggio Spring is the Lungomare Falcomatà, the sea-side boulevard named after Italo Falcomatà the centre-left mayor who initiated the recovery of the town.[22]

On October 9, 2012, the Italian government decided to dissolve the city council of Reggio Calabria for infiltration by the 'Ndrangheta. The move came after some councillors were suspected of having ties to the powerful crime syndicate, under the 10-year centre-right rule of Giuseppe Scopelliti, mayor from 2002 to 2010.[23] His successor, the centre-right mayor Demetrio Arena and all 30 city councillors were sacked to prevent any "mafia contagion" in the local government. It is the first time that the entire government of a provincial capital has been dismissed over suspected links to organized crime. Three commissioners will run the city for 18 months until a new election.[24][25]

Reggio has been destroyed by earthquakes several times over the centuries, such as in 91 BC, after which the city was reconstructed by order of the Emperor Augustus, followed by another earthquake in the year 17 AD; yet another one in 305 AD, and again another in 374. The earthquake of 1562 destroyed the natural, medieval port of the city and brought about the submersion of the Calamizzi promontory, known in ancient times as the Pallantiòn, where, we are told, the first Greek settlers, the Calcidesi, had set foot. The particularly devastating earthquake of 1783 and that of 1908, which was the worst natural calamity to take place in Europe in human memory, both profoundly altered the urban aspect of the city, due to the successive re-building which gave the present-day layout of straight, intersecting roads, planned by Giovanbattista Mori in 1784 and by Pietro De Nava in 1911. But some town-planning policies at the time were decided upon with no respect for the architectural history of Reggio, as is shown by the demolition of the remaining Norman part of the Castle, following the last big earthquake, in 1923.

According to the Köppen climate classification, Reggio Calabria possesses a typical Mediterranean climate (Köppen: Csa). Its climate is mostly identical with Messina which lies on the other side of the strait. Precipitation is the only exception because Messina receives approximately 300 mm (12 in) more.

Reggio di Calabria is located in the last point of the "boot" of the Italian peninsula, between the Tyrrhenian Sea and the Ionian Sea, in front there is the Strait of Messina, and neighbor across there is the homonymous city. The municipality of Reggio is divided into 15 sub-municipalities (Circoscrizioni) containing the frazioni ("subdivisions", mainly villages and hamlets) of Catona, Gallico, Archi, Pentimele, Gallina, Mosorrofa (Greek: Messorofè), Ortì (Greek: Orthioi), Pellaro (Greek: Pèllaros) and Saracinello. They are: Centro Storico (1st); Pineta Zerbi, Tremulini and Eremo (2nd); Santa Caterina, San Brunello and Vito (3rd); Trabochetto, Condera and Spirito Santo (4th); Rione Ferrovieri, Stadio and Gebbione (5th); Sbarre (6th); San Giorgio, Modena, Scido and San Sperato (7th); Catona, Salice, Rosalì and Villa San Giuseppe (8th); Gallico and Sambatello (9th); Archi (10th); Ortì, Podàrgoni and Terreti (11th); Cannavò, Mosorrofa and Cataforio (12th); Ravagnese, San Gregorio, Croce Valanidi and Trunca (13th); Gallina (14th); Pellaro and Bocale (15th).

Reggio retains a somewhat rural ambience despite its sizable population. Industry in the city revolves primarily around agriculture and export, fruits, tobacco, briar and the precious essence of the bergamot which is used in perfume production. Reggio is a port city with a sizeable fishing industry. The beaches of the city have become a popular tourist destination.,[29] even if the sea is often polluted by untreated sewers.[30] Tourism is distributed between the Ionian coast (Costa Jonica), the Tyrrhenian coast (the Costa Viola, Purple Coast) and the Aspromonte mountain behind the city, containing the natural reserve of the Aspromonte National Park where, at 1,300–1,950 metres above sea level, there is a panoramic view of the Strait of Messina from the snowy mount Etna to the Aeolian Islands.

The Castle, originally built before 540 AD and enlarged by the Normans and later by the Aragonese in 1459, unfortunately partially torn in the late 19th century and in 1923, is now home to art exhibitions.

The Church of Saint Gaetano Catanoso (1879–1963) on via Catanoso, in the Santo Spirito neighborhood. Canonized by Pope Benedict XVI on October 23, 2005 St. Gaetano is the first saint from Calabria since Saint Francis of Paola (canonized in 1507). St. Gaetano was founder of the Sisters of St. Veronica of the Holy Face. His glass tomb is in the sanctuary as well as museum exhibits. Catanosa was beatified by Pope John Paul II on May 4, 1997.

The Church of the Optimates constructed in Byzantine-Norman style, containing medieval artistic items of interest.

The National Archaeological Museum of Magna Græcia, dedicated to Ancient Greece, heir of the previous City Museum (created in 1819); its building was built in 1932 with project of Marcello Piacentini under the auspices of Archæological Superintendent Edoardo Galli.

The Lungomare Falcomatà, a seaside promenade located in the downtown, is a crowded swimming destination and main symbol of the summer movida; it was defined by Nando Martellini, quoting the poet Gabriele D'Annunzio, as "the most beautiful kilometre of Italy".[31]

The botanic gardens facing the sea.

The walls of the ancient city, one of the few remaining examples of the original Greek walls, are divided into four separate sections. The one at the Falcomatà Seaside dates to the 5th–4th century BC and is attributed to the city's reconstruction by Dionysius II of Syracuse.

The archæological excavations of Piazza Italia, which was the central square of Reggio since Greater Greece age until today.

The archæological site of Griso Laboccetta, an ancient Greek and Roman sacred area.

The archæological excavations nearby Church San Giorgio al Corso.

Other sites of archæological interest in the upper-eastern part of the city, such as a Greek mansion, a necropolis, or some ancient Greek walls and Byzantine items of interest nearby Reggio Campi street.

The new waterfront designed by the architect Zaha Hadid, located on a narrow strait separating Italy from Sicily, marks the city of Reggio Calabria as a Mediterranean cultural capital. The museum (13,400 sqm) draws inspiration from the organic form of the starfish, utilizing a radial symmetry to coordinate communication and circulation between different program elements: exhibition spaces, restoration facilities, archive, aquarium and library. A second, multifunctional building (8,000 sqm), comprises two separate elements, placed around a partially covered piazza. Here are contained: offices, gyms, craft laboratories, cinema and flexible auditoria.[32]

Biblioteca Comunale "Pietro De Nava": the Municipal Library, the most long-standing of its kind in Calabria, was inaugurated in 1818 as Regia Biblioteca Ferdinandiana and setted in the nowadays building in 1928, after the last earthquake.

The Tramway of Reggio was operative since 1918 until 1937. Tramway line was 5.3 km long, from Sbarre district (southern suburbs) until Annunziata bridge (northern part of town centre) passing by the whole historical centre.

The city, served by air from the Reggio Calabria Airport (IATA: REG, ICAO: LICR) also known as Aeroporto dello Stretto or Tito Minniti Airport, is located a few kilometres south of Reggio. The first runway was built in 1939 for military purposes. On 11 July 1943 a US air raid razed the structure, which later was rebuilt for civil aviation. The first civilian flight took place on 10 April 1947 with a twin-engine propeller-driven "Douglas DC-3" on the Turin – Bologna – Florence – Naples – Reggio di Calabria – Palermo route. Design of the first paved runway began in October 1960. By decision of the Ministry of Defense-Air Force, on 10 December 1975 the airport was named Tito Minniti, after a pilot who crashed in East Africa on 26 December 1935 during the Ethiopian war. The airport structure is increasingly being improved; the recent phase of modernization has allowed for an increase in the number of available flights to Rome, Milan, Venice, Turin, Pisa, Bologna and other cities in Europe and the Mediterranean area (such as the island of Malta).